Florence: Italy the Theme Park

Italy - the heart of the traditional Grand Tour. In the 17th and 18th century, the Grand Tour was an integral part of a classical education for English aristocrats, who spent a few months traveling through Europe, appreciating art and collecting it when feasible. Italy, of course, was the essential place to visit. And this sentiment hasn't changed - the numbers tell the story. On an average night, there are more tourists than locals staying in Venice. The local economy has adjusted accordingly - €1.50 to use the public toilets, per favore. Florence, population 400,000, receives about 50 million tourists annually, approximately the same number of tourists that visit New York, population 8 million. This makes Florence a destination where advance reservations are strongly encouraged for the top museums - the alternative is to wait in line for hours. The herds of fellow tourists can make Florence and Venice seem more like a theme park: stand in line, ride the rides, take pictures, eat overpriced food. I find myself making a conscious effort to mingle with whatever locals are left in these cities.

In Venice, my top getaway was the university cafeteria. The tourist office had given me a discount card, valid for people aged 14-29 at various museums and restaurants. One offer was from the University of Venice, a 3-course meal for €10. The cafeteria was found on the other side of an unmarked door - if not for the students entering and exiting, I would not have found it. At long last, I was spoken to in Italian, eating what the locals eat, back in a university setting.

The theme park atmosphere is magnified by the herds of Americans that visit Italy. Having been away from the US for over a year, it's somewhat disconcerting to walk the streets and hear the majority of people speaking with an American accent. With Italian sounding similar to Spanish, I'm certainly not the first American tourist to speak to the locals in Spanish in hopes that the Italian equivalent is something similar. The locals are probably too familiar with this trick by now.

Italy sufficiently summarizes the good and bad of tourism in the 21st century. On the down side, places like Venice and Florence have had their street culture heavily altered in order to accommodate tourists, with neighborhoods filled with people who are merely passing through town. But on the positive side, it's an incredible blessing to have the opportunity to access the canals of Venice, see Michaelangelo's David, and walk through the halls of the Uffizi, something that was only available to the aristocracy in the 17th century.

I just passed by the Disney Store in Florence. Looks like the theme park experts have arrived.